Sunday, June 22, 2014

Hospice, Inc.

Evelyn Maples’ last day as a hospice patient wasn’t anything like her family imagined when the nurse from Vitas Healthcare first pitched the service two months before.       

On the morning of Dec. 31, 2011, Maples’ daughter, Kathleen Spry, found her mom unconscious and gasping for breath, with her eyes rolled back in her head. Maples was at a Vitas inpatient facility on Merritt Island, 30 miles from the home the two women shared on Florida’s east coast. No one from Vitas had called to warn the family that the woman everyone called “granny” was in sharp decline, Spry said. No one from Vitas had sought treatment for the blood infection that had made her severely ill, despite the family’s standing request that she receive life-saving care in the event of a crisis.

Frantic and near tears, Spry called her son, David Dunn, who demanded an ambulance. Maples was taken to a nearby hospital, where she recovered from the infection. But her fragile health was permanently compromised, her family claims. She died a month later.
     
But Maples’ family claims she never belonged on hospice, and that she was recruited for the purpose of inflating the company’s Medicare billings.

Hospices exist to provide comfort to people who doctors determine are at the end of their lives, with six months or less to live. The paramount objective, according to the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization, a trade association, is to make patients comfortable, with a focus "on enhancing the quality of remaining life."
      
In a complaint letter to the Florida attorney general, Dunn alleges the company enrolled his grandmother “for the sake of billing the government for payment for their own financial gain.” The company misled the family about the purpose of hospice — emphasizing benefits such as at-home nursing care and free medications, without explaining that hospices don’t provide curative treatments, according to Dunn. Once enrolled, Dunn alleges, Vitas gave Maples a powerful cocktail of drugs against the family’s wishes, and repeatedly bumped her up to the most intrusive and expensive levels of care.
     
The final straw was the apparent confusion over Maples’ “full code” status. It’s a designation rarely seen in hospice, because it means the family wants the kind of life-saving treatment that hospices don’t provide.

Full Article and Source:
Hospice, Inc

See Also:
Hospice Patients Alliance

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

So a lady with a full code status is in hospice with an untreated infection?

That's not an appropriate condition for which to refuse treatment, particularly when her family is demanding treatment.

Sounds backwards, upside down, just wrong, wrong, wrong.

Thelma said...

How can we ever know what is safe?

Norma said...

The greedy have invaded hospice and made it into an industry. Thanks for posting this warning NASGA.

tina d said...

When the almighty $ sign is a factor you need to know fraud is in the mix. Vitas has a reputation that needs to be a consideration before believing the sales pitch yes it's all about selling their services at what cost? what is their profit?

There are some good hospice care providers I know I have communicated with them one on one and you can bet your house, car and pet that I was more informed than their well informed potential client. Yes I use the word client this is a business people refer to their loved ones as patients but you need to consider client vs patient 24/7.

I hope the feds are investigating Vitas and all of their related corporations, facilities, selected physicians, hospitals this is a mega ring of cast of characters. And keep in mind they are connected to law makers on the federal and state level mega dollar contributions from special interest groups lobbyists the mouthpieces with $'s in the mouths to influence those who draft the laws in their favor. I could go on and on and on but for now always follow the almighty $ sign and the votes in my opinion elephant tracks.

Steve said...

I am so afraid of hospice, I can't stand it. I am glad to hear about Hospice Patients Alliance, NASGA.